Women of India: Their Plight The term “equality” has been used for long time in all facets of societies and there have been many debates around the term as to what it means and what it represents. Princeton University’s online dictionary provides two basic definitions of the term: (i) being the same in capacity, measure, importance or position, and (ii) a position of being fundamentally equal; evenly balanced; “on a par with the best”. If we are to use these definitions to compare women with men, the position on being “the best” automatically goes to the men. We are constantly bombarded with the teachings that women should be given equal treatment as the men and that they can do whatever their male counterparts can do. This comparison in relation to the definitions mentioned above seems to state that societies have given men the top position and women are to be their subjects. The fight for equal rights by women has been a long struggle in every sphere of every society. In some societies, women have no say for choice of marriage partner, can not own land, and their right to work or leave the house are very limited or none. Overall, many of the basic rights that men enjoy are just a dream for some women. Women in many parts of the world do not have the liberty of civil and human rights, and the governing body of the nation-state are hesitant to treat them as full citizens like the men in their societies. All in all, women are sidelined from the concept of national identity and are viewed as incomplete national subjects. According to Padma Srinivasan and Gary R. Lee, the reasons for women being treated as incomplete national subjects are, (i) male-dominated societies, (ii) class and caste systems, and (iii) religion have all caused this movement to exist and prolong (3).
There are many male-dominated societies around the world, including much of South-East Asia and Africa. History has shown that women have often had a tortuous and violent time securing rights and fighting oppression in these male-dominated societies (Mandelbaum, 19). Mandelbaum specifically mentions the plight of Indian women as they struggle against class and caste systems, and points out that the challenge to progression of women's rights is the reinforcement of religion in their society (19). One specific problem facing the Indian women which encompasses the class, caste, religion and male dominant society is the concept of “dowry”.Dowry consists of money, gold, gifts, merchandise, land or housing complex that is usually promised and/or given to the groom’s family by the bride’s family when the couple is married. If he bride’s family fails to live up to the expected dowry by the groom’s family, the bride is highly likely to face mistreatment, violence and often death. There were roughly seven thousands dowry related deaths in India in 1998 and reports indicate that this figure is underestimated due to the social stigma attached to the issue ( Srinivasan and Lee, 3; Mandelbaum, 18). Vijayendra Rao in his works explains the rise of dowry system as a product of rising economy and female population in India (667). Due to the fact that Indian women are still expected to become housewives and will not be able to earn for the husband’s family, her in-laws expect her to bring with her enough wealth so that her cost of living in their household is covered for a certain amount of time (Rao, 668). The growing female population along with the low number of suitable grooms to marry, families of un-married women in India compete for the best possible groom for their daughters (Rao, 668-669). In more simple terms, women’s families are buying grooms and in the process furthering the system of dowry and creating more problems for their own daughters and also for those who refuse to give dowry. In the world’s largest democratic society (India), people from all walks of life are allowed to live, work, practice their religion and experience the rights and freedoms that others in some parts of the world do not get to experience. However, the women of India are still bound to some ancient tradition which has been manipulated by the capitalistic minds and end up suffering when they oppose the greedy nature of society. In ancient Hindu tradition, family of the bride would give kanyadan (decorating the bride with variety of jewelry) and also give stridhan (some wealth from her parents) during the marriage (Mandelbaum, 18). The author explains how both of these traditions have been manipulated and morphed into a “type of groom-price” which is being practiced not only by Hindus but also Muslims as well as tribal groups (Mandelbaum, 18). Once again coming back to the point of capitalistic nature of many Indians as mentioned earlier.
According to the ancient Hindu scripture Laws of Manu, a woman who is married must endure all pains of life and is expected to show forbearance and if the marriage fails, it is entirely the fault of the woman. Some preachers of such religious teaching manipulate the scriptures and turn them into extreme beliefs as a way to control the actions of the masses. If women are brought up in a culture where they are required to obey every single command given to them, and tolerate inhumane situations then these women will have no option but to commit suicide. The ideology of self-sacrifice expects the Indian women to endure all forms of sufferings, but also leads to death because the women do not have the strength to go on (with the suffering) and only way to end is by suicide (Waters, 527). Anne Waters also mentions that many victims of suicide attempts have given testimonies (upon surviving the suicide attempt and being investigated by the police) in which they state that they had endured great deal of suffering and were driven to the point of suicide by their in-laws (Waters, 526). An Indian woman suffering from such abuse does not have many places where she can go to for help. If she confides in someone from her in-laws’ family, she will be thrown out of the house because she has dishonored her husband. Her own family then will not take her back because she is seen as a difficult daughter (woman) and will harm the prospect of her younger sister getting married because rumors about her will tarnish the reputations of all of her family members. The plight of Indian woman does not end here. If widowed, the woman is expected to mourn the passing of her husband for the rest of her life but if the husband is widowed, he is allowed to re-marry and the practice of dowry continues as he is “entitled” to dowry from his new bride. Often, when a death of a married woman is reported, it is filed in the reports as an accident. Many times, women’s clothing catch fire and they burn to death or the gas stove happens to explode while she is cooking (Waters, 530). This leads to another problem faced by the Indian women, underused and abused laws. The very laws that are meant to protect and provide justice to women are neither effective nor efficient.
Madhu Kishwar in her work explains the implementation of the Indian Evidence Act and Dowry Protection Act by the Indian Government in order to protect the women of their nation (112). However, the very laws are misused as offenders find loopholes and the corrupt police officers are unwilling to enforce the stringent laws on the perpetrators ( Kishwar, 112-114). Kishwar’s reasoning for such behavior is that the law enforcement agents are unsympathetic and turn their attention away from the reported crime due to the bribe received from the groom’s family (112-113). The Indian Evidence Act requires investigation into all deaths of brides who were married for less than seven years, but due to the wide spread corruption and lack of cooperation from the bride’s family, very few of the cases end up in conviction. Kishwar also mentions many problems (loop holes) with the laws governing marital abuse and offers various possible solutions. Discussion on these are beyond the scope of this paper. Refer to Madhu Kishwar’s work, published in the NWSA journal in 2003.
It is extremely horrifying to imagine the lives of these women who are brought up to believe and treated as inferior beings. They are expected to behave like robots by their husbands and in-laws, and upon refusal to comply with any inhumane norms, they are treated with mental and physical torture. Even if they decide to run away from such ill-treatment, they are seen as having loose character, face more mistreatment from society, have no money, or a safe place to run to. The act of dowry giving (misconstrued custom) derived from the ancient Hindu tradition needs to be eliminated and the government needs to find ways through which they can enforce the laws enacted to protect the women of India. The capitalistic men of India do not want the practice of dowry to stop, the religious extremist do not believe in a reason to change the customs, and feminist groups fighting for women’s rights lack support from the government. The problems are right in front of everyone’s eyes, it is just a matter of opening these eyes and accepting the bitter truth. How else can the poison be extracted?
References Kishwar, Madhu. "Laws Against Domestic Violence: Underused or Abused?" NWSA 15 (2003):
111-122.
Mandelbaum, Paul. "Dowry Deaths In India: ‘Let only your corpse come out of that house’." Commonweal 126 (1999): 18-20.
Rao, Vijayendra. "The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in
Rural India." The Journal of Political Economy 110 (1993): 666-77.
Srinivasan, Padma, and Gary R. Lee. "The Dowry System in Northern India: Women’s Attitudes
and Social Change." Journal of Marriage and Family 66 (2004): 1108-1117.
Waters, Anne. "Domestic Dangers: Approaches to Women's Suicide in Contemporary
Maharashtra, India." Violence Against Women 5 (1999): 525-47.
There are many male-dominated societies around the world, including much of South-East Asia and Africa. History has shown that women have often had a tortuous and violent time securing rights and fighting oppression in these male-dominated societies (Mandelbaum, 19). Mandelbaum specifically mentions the plight of Indian women as they struggle against class and caste systems, and points out that the challenge to progression of women's rights is the reinforcement of religion in their society (19). One specific problem facing the Indian women which encompasses the class, caste, religion and male dominant society is the concept of “dowry”. Dowry consists of money, gold, gifts, merchandise, land or housing complex that is usually promised and/or given to the groom’s family by the bride’s family when the couple is married. If he bride’s family fails to live up to the expected dowry by the groom’s family, the bride is highly likely to face mistreatment, violence and often death. There were roughly seven thousands dowry related deaths in India in 1998 and reports indicate that this figure is underestimated due to the social stigma attached to the issue ( Srinivasan and Lee, 3; Mandelbaum, 18). Vijayendra Rao in his works explains the rise of dowry system as a product of rising economy and female population in India (667). Due to the fact that Indian women are still expected to become housewives and will not be able to earn for the husband’s family, her in-laws expect her to bring with her enough wealth so that her cost of living in their household is covered for a certain amount of time (Rao, 668). The growing female population along with the low number of suitable grooms to marry, families of un-married women in India compete for the best possible groom for their daughters (Rao, 668-669). In more simple terms, women’s families are buying grooms and in the process furthering the system of dowry and creating more problems for their own daughters and also for those who refuse to give dowry. In the world’s largest democratic society (India), people from all walks of life are allowed to live, work, practice their religion and experience the rights and freedoms that others in some parts of the world do not get to experience. However, the women of India are still bound to some ancient tradition which has been manipulated by the capitalistic minds and end up suffering when they oppose the greedy nature of society. In ancient Hindu tradition, family of the bride would give kanyadan (decorating the bride with variety of jewelry) and also give stridhan (some wealth from her parents) during the marriage (Mandelbaum, 18). The author explains how both of these traditions have been manipulated and morphed into a “type of groom-price” which is being practiced not only by Hindus but also Muslims as well as tribal groups (Mandelbaum, 18). Once again coming back to the point of capitalistic nature of many Indians as mentioned earlier.
According to the ancient Hindu scripture Laws of Manu, a woman who is married must endure all pains of life and is expected to show forbearance and if the marriage fails, it is entirely the fault of the woman. Some preachers of such religious teaching manipulate the scriptures and turn them into extreme beliefs as a way to control the actions of the masses. If women are brought up in a culture where they are required to obey every single command given to them, and tolerate inhumane situations then these women will have no option but to commit suicide. The ideology of self-sacrifice expects the Indian women to endure all forms of sufferings, but also leads to death because the women do not have the strength to go on (with the suffering) and only way to end is by suicide (Waters, 527). Anne Waters also mentions that many victims of suicide attempts have given testimonies (upon surviving the suicide attempt and being investigated by the police) in which they state that they had endured great deal of suffering and were driven to the point of suicide by their in-laws (Waters, 526). An Indian woman suffering from such abuse does not have many places where she can go to for help. If she confides in someone from her in-laws’ family, she will be thrown out of the house because she has dishonored her husband. Her own family then will not take her back because she is seen as a difficult daughter (woman) and will harm the prospect of her younger sister getting married because rumors about her will tarnish the reputations of all of her family members. The plight of Indian woman does not end here. If widowed, the woman is expected to mourn the passing of her husband for the rest of her life but if the husband is widowed, he is allowed to re-marry and the practice of dowry continues as he is “entitled” to dowry from his new bride. Often, when a death of a married woman is reported, it is filed in the reports as an accident. Many times, women’s clothing catch fire and they burn to death or the gas stove happens to explode while she is cooking (Waters, 530). This leads to another problem faced by the Indian women, underused and abused laws. The very laws that are meant to protect and provide justice to women are neither effective nor efficient.
Madhu Kishwar in her work explains the implementation of the Indian Evidence Act and Dowry Protection Act by the Indian Government in order to protect the women of their nation (112). However, the very laws are misused as offenders find loopholes and the corrupt police officers are unwilling to enforce the stringent laws on the perpetrators ( Kishwar, 112-114). Kishwar’s reasoning for such behavior is that the law enforcement agents are unsympathetic and turn their attention away from the reported crime due to the bribe received from the groom’s family (112-113). The Indian Evidence Act requires investigation into all deaths of brides who were married for less than seven years, but due to the wide spread corruption and lack of cooperation from the bride’s family, very few of the cases end up in conviction. Kishwar also mentions many problems (loop holes) with the laws governing marital abuse and offers various possible solutions. Discussion on these are beyond the scope of this paper. Refer to Madhu Kishwar’s work, published in the NWSA journal in 2003.
It is extremely horrifying to imagine the lives of these women who are brought up to believe and treated as inferior beings. They are expected to behave like robots by their husbands and in-laws, and upon refusal to comply with any inhumane norms, they are treated with mental and physical torture. Even if they decide to run away from such ill-treatment, they are seen as having loose character, face more mistreatment from society, have no money, or a safe place to run to. The act of dowry giving (misconstrued custom) derived from the ancient Hindu tradition needs to be eliminated and the government needs to find ways through which they can enforce the laws enacted to protect the women of India. The capitalistic men of India do not want the practice of dowry to stop, the religious extremist do not believe in a reason to change the customs, and feminist groups fighting for women’s rights lack support from the government. The problems are right in front of everyone’s eyes, it is just a matter of opening these eyes and accepting the bitter truth. How else can the poison be extracted?
References
Kishwar, Madhu. "Laws Against Domestic Violence: Underused or Abused?" NWSA 15 (2003):
111-122.
Mandelbaum, Paul. "Dowry Deaths In India: ‘Let only your corpse come out of that house’."
Commonweal 126 (1999): 18-20.
Rao, Vijayendra. "The Rising Price of Husbands: A Hedonic Analysis of Dowry Increases in
Rural India." The Journal of Political Economy 110 (1993): 666-77.
Srinivasan, Padma, and Gary R. Lee. "The Dowry System in Northern India: Women’s Attitudes
and Social Change." Journal of Marriage and Family 66 (2004): 1108-1117.
Waters, Anne. "Domestic Dangers: Approaches to Women's Suicide in Contemporary
Maharashtra, India." Violence Against Women 5 (1999): 525-47.